enterprise content management ECM resource center

CompTIA's IT Industry Outlook 2015 report predicts a better year for IT sales as well as IT solutions providers taking a more strategic approach to services and solutions.CompTIA says the channel will be challenged to focus on their own branding and marketing as well as on tech skills as consumer and enterprise use of technology continues to evolve.

EXECUTIVE COMMENTARY

Q: How do I develop a true leadership team? Coach: In our previous discussion on leadership teams, we examined how a diverse team enhances your ability to come up with innovative ideas or to solve complex problems. Just to recap, issues generally have three dimensions: tactical (task), relational (people) and systemic (big picture).

Many of us have owned our businesses for numerous years and come from the Boomer Generation. Boomers are frugal for the most part, and were raised with dial telephones, three-channel television, and in a single-income family. We saved our leftovers, ate everything on our plates, and the stores were closed on Sundays. We grew up with a mindset of budgets, and when we got out of college it was the ‘70s. We listened to vinyl records, FM radio, and drove an American-made car.

The “this” that I’m talking about is the practice that I’ve seen MSPs (managed services providers) and IT consultants repeat many times. Tragically, each repetition costs the MSP and/or IT consultant a ton of cash. The behavior that I’m talking about is the result of success that the MSP has had. Ironically, the more successful small MSPs are, the more rapidly they want to grow, hire more engineers, and enjoy more recurring revenue.

WHITE PAPERS & CASE STUDIES

To remain in business as long as East Texas Copy Systems (ETCS), which was established in 1945, you have to be vigilant of industry trends and embrace change. During the 2008 recession, ETCS unquestionably demonstrated these abilities, first by recognizing that copier, printer and paper usage were on the decline. And, secondly, noting that if it wanted to remain relevant, it needed to become an expert in selling the systems and solutions that were replacing its former office staples.

Knight Office Solutions (KOS) got its start more than 25 years ago supplying and servicing HP ® printers for its customers in the San Antonio, Texas region. Established in 1989, the company saw early success as an HP reseller and service partner, later adding other copier manufacturers into the mix, and opening a second location in Austin.

Picture this: you have got enterprise content management (ECM) figured out. Your documents are stored electronically, you route them electronically and you have abandoned the world of paper. You have arrived! That is, until, BOOM, one of your electronically stored documents needs a signature.

ABOUT ENTERPRISE CONTENT MANAGEMENT

Enterprise Content Management (ECM) is the way in which companies store and organize their documents and other content. It covers the management of all forms of information within an organization, from paper to electronic documents, email, and more. It encompasses the functions of records management and document management along with document conversion processes. Other aspects of ECM include capture, scanning, digital asset management (DAM), search, web content management, and collaboration.

The purpose of ECM is to manage the full information lifecycle, from creation through archival and disposal. ECM solutions are available on-premise as an application on an organization's network, as a service (software as a service or SaaS) where data is stored in the cloud, or as a combination of the two known as a hybrid solution.

ECM aims to increase organizational efficiency and reduce costs by allowing anyone in the organization to easily manage many documents from any location. ECM can simplify the storage, retention, version control, security, and regulatory requirements and provides superior control when compared to paper records by allowing organizations to set access levels and put viewing and editing restrictions on specific documents. In addition, by digitizing documents organizations reduce the risk of them being lost, stolen, or damaged.

FEATURED PRODUCTS

Synchronizer
The Synchronizer feature automatically adds folders to an existing cabinet in CNG-SAFE as they appear in the target application's database. For example, as new clients are added in a CRM system database, a corresponding folder is created in CNG-SAFE.

MULTIMEDIA

For Business Solutions magazine readers who couldn’t attend Channel Transitions West on April 29, 2014 in Santa Ana, CA, Jake West, who manages Mercury’s business development team, shares in this video what he discussed with conference attendees, including finding recurring revenue streams for your business.

For Business Solutions magazine readers who couldn’t attend Channel Transitions West on April 29, 2014 in Santa Ana, CA, Doug Hall, business development director of AIM, the Association for Automatic Identification and Mobility, shares on video what he discussed with attendees at the conference.